The New Jersey Devils have once again weaponized their cap space, as it helped them get Andreas Johnsson from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
With many teams up against the salary cap ceiling this offseason, certain teams have been taking advantage of it. The New Jersey Devils are among them. Earlier this offseason, they acquired defenseman Ryan Murray from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a fifth-round pick. The Devils are at it again, as they’ve acquired Andreas Johnsson from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
This report is according to Pierre LeBrun. New Jersey is giving the Leafs the rights to RFA forward Joey Anderson. This trade is a pure cap dump, as the Leafs had to clear some cap space after signing Wayne Simmonds and T.J. Brodie. Additionally, they’ve got to re-sign Travis Dermott and Ilya Mikheyev, both of whom are RFAs.
How did each team do in the trade? Let’s take a look.
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TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
For the Leafs, the biggest thing they get with this trade is cap space. With Johnsson’s contract off the books, they’re back to being under the salary cap. However, the Leafs still have to sign RFAs Ilya Mikheyev and Travis Dermott, so more moves could be coming. According to CapFriendly, they have just over $2.3 million of cap space.
The Johnsson trade was necessary because of the left-wing depth the Maple Leafs have. Nicolas Robertson entered the conversation during the postseason and one has to imagine he’ll have a spot on the NHL roster next season. Add that to Pierre Engvall, Mikheyev (if he signs), Wayne Simmonds, and Zach Hyman, and suddenly it was a bit too crowded on the left side.
Joey Anderson is a 13th forward candidate for the Leafs. I liked what he did with the Devils in a bottom-six role. Anderson was one of the best players on the Binghamton Devils last season, putting up 34 points in 45 games. He’s an RFA and likely won’t cost more than $1 million.
GRADE: C+. Leafs put themselves in this situation, but all things considered, not a bad trade.
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
The New Jersey Devils once again used their cap space to upgrade their team by taking on a salary cap dump. Johnsson is a very useful player who is a pretty good scorer. He should be a good fit in their middle-six. As an added bonus, Johnsson’s under contract for the next two seasons at $3.4 million per season.
Johnsson got injured last season, so it’ll be interesting to see how well he bounces back from it. The Devils came into this offseason needing to add some wings and Johnsson is a good one who’s cost-controlled.
Grade: B+. Another solid trade for the Devils. They’re doing a great job weaponizing their cap space.
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